UK pallet volumes showed significant growth in Q1 2025, across all pallet sizes and services, against the same period in 2024, the Association of Pallet Networks (APN) has revealed this week.
Total pallet volumes for the year to date were 3.4% higher than the same period in 2024, with over 7.2 million pallets delivered across the UK’s eight major networks.
Next-day volumes during the quarter were 3.5% higher than in the same period last year whilst economy volumes in Q1 were 3% higher than in the same period in 2024
Home deliveries were also up by four percentage points in Q1 2025 against Q1 2024, with a total of 15.3% of pallets delivered to residential addresses.
To date this year, next-day services account for 61.1% of the total volume and economy services 38.9%, which APN said shows a marginal shift towards the use of economy services compared to the services split in full year 2024.
All pallet sizes have grown in volumes to date in 2025, APN reported, against 2024 volumes, with 3.8% growth in full pallets, 3.7% for half-pallets and 1.6% for quarter pallets.
Commenting on the results, APN chairman Paul Sanders said: “It has been an excellent start to the year for the UK’s pallet networks and a healthy indicator for the economy as a whole.
“The growth has been relatively consistent across all services and pallet sizes, which suggests a strong uplift in consumer and business demand.”
APN also noted that service levels have remained high at an average 96.5% of consignments delivered within the specified service criteria.
It said that the the ongoing focus on safety at UK hubs, reinforced by the annual Health and Safety at Work Week, which occurred at the end of April, has continued to drive safety improvements.
The average weight per pallet resumed its downward trajectory, after a slight increase in 2024, falling lower than in any previous year at 364kg per pallet.
After six years of incident reductions, there was a slight increase in 2024. However the APN said that the networks are again achieving record safety results.
So far in 2025, there has been a 26.7% reduction in incidents so far this year, with an average of 0.3 incidents per 100,000 palledelivered, lower than the 2023 record of 0.36 incidents per 100,000 pallets.
Sanders said: “It’s pleasing that the sector has maintained its high service levels despite the growth in volumes. It’s even more important and satisfying that we have continued to work more safely and drive injury incidents down to record lows. Our aim is to achieve zero harm in the workplace.”
The APN consists of eight pallet networks in the UK: Fortec, PallEx, Pallet-Track, Palletforce, Palletline, Palletways, The Pallet Network and United Pallet Network, which represent 800 hauliers, more than 24,000 vehicles and over 13 million sq ft of warehouse space collectively.
